Kira Yamato
Kira Yamato is the biological twin brother of Cagalli Yula Athha and one of only two survivors of the Ultimate Coordinator Project. He is also a close personal friend of Athrun Zala as well as Lacus Clyne. A veteran of the Bloody Valentine War, he has spent the years since in his native Orb Union, and returns to the battlefield following the outbreak of a second war in C.E. 75. He pilots the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam. Personality Kira is a young man who strongly believes in the pacifist ideals of Orb, and who is committed to defending them if necessary. He is kind-natured, but his experiences during the Bloody Valentine War have left emotional scars, leaving him quieter and more reserved than he had been. His resolve is no less, however, and he harbors strong suspicions as to the motives of PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durendal, especially after the assassination of Lacus. Skills & Capabilities In mobile suit combat Kira is skilled in high-mobility engagements at both close and long range, and is able to make use of the Freedom's sophisticated targeting systems to incapacitate enemy mobile suits without killing the pilots. Though he is not afraid to kill when necessary, he is very reluctant to do so. However this particular tendency towards non-fatal attacks would eventually be used against him in battle, with disastrous results. Despite his skill as a pilot, Kira has little to no formal military training and his experience with handguns is nearly nonexistent, and as such he generally prefers not to use them. Since the end of the Bloody Valentine War he has, at the insistence of Andrew Waltfeld, taken some rudimentary instruction in their use however, and is at least a reasonably good shot. History Kira's story begins with an advanced biotech firm called GARM R&D (Genetic Advanced Reproductive Medical Research & Development), which was based out of the Colony Mendel, and led by a married couple named Ulen and Via Hibiki, who were geneticists. Dr. Ulen Hibiki's specialty was the creation of Coordinators, and he had often been frustrated by unforeseen mutations that resulted in deviation from the genetic characteristics requested in a subject. So he sought to create an "Ultimate Coordinator", one whose creation could be rigidly controlled from conception through birth, via the use of an artificial womb, resulting in a product that was 100% exactly as intended. Thus far all attempts had failed, and all but one of these failures had died. Via Hibiki was at the time pregnant with fraternal twins - a boy and girl. Dr. Hibiki took the former early in embryonic development and made a series of genetic modifications, so that he would have his Coordinator, and raised him in his artificial womb. At last, Dr. Hibiki succeeded, where he had failed so many times before. The incident drove a wedge between him and his wife, and she soon left him, taking her children with her to Orb, where she sought refuge with her sister Caridad and her husband, Haruma Yamato. The Yamatos would later adopt Kira, while Cagalli is entrusted to Orb's Lord Uzumi Nara Athha. The ultimate fate of the Hibikis remains unknown. Kira was sent to a prep school in Copernicus City, where he met and became best friends with Athrun Zala. Athrun eventually returned to the PLANTs, but he gave to Kira "Birdy", a small mechanical bird he had built. Some time later, Kira Yamato was attending a technical college at the Orb-owned colony Heliopolis, when as a result of a ZAFT attack on the colony, he stumbled across the Morgenröte-backed G-Project, the Alliance's mobile suit development project, and its GAT-X105 Strike Gundam prototype. And there he would also meet Athrun again, who had joined ZAFT and was participating in the raid, its objective being to capture the Alliance's mobile suits. Kira and Athrun would face each other in battle several times over the following months, as the Le Creuset Team continued to pursue the Alliance's battleship [[LCAM-01XA Archangel|LCAM-01XA Archangel]] - Kira in the strike while Athrun piloted the captured GAT-X303 Aegis. While crossing the Débris Belt, Kira would come across the damaged shuttle Silverwind, which belonged to Lacus Clyne, whom he would rescue. Lacus remained on the Archangel for some days, until Kira eventually returned her to the Le Creuset Team - and to Athrun, her fiancé. Soon after the Archangel fell to Earth, Kira was reunited with Cagalli, whom he had first briefly met in Heliopolis, as she had found her way to Earth where she was involved with the anti-ZAFT resistance movement "Desert Dawn". During this time, he also met legendary ZAFT veteran commander Andrew Waltfeld, whom he would later defeat in battle. Eventually, the Archangel would find its way to Orb, where Kira learned that the headstrong Cagalli was the daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha. Soon afterwards the ship would leave Orb on its way to JOSH-A, the Alliance's headquarters in Alaska. In the Marshall Islands, Kira would once again face Athrun in battle, an engagement that would culminate in the destruction of both machines and Kira's apparent death. A badly injured Kira would be rescued, however, and taken to the PLANTs in secret, where he received medical treatment for his injuries, which included extremely severe burns. He would regain consciousness to find himself in the care of Lacus Clyne. Some time later, learning that ZAFT is about to launch Operation Spit Break, a massive attack on JOSH-A, Kira decides it is time to return, and with Lacus's help steals the next-generation ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam, which he takes to Earth. During the Battle of JOSH-A, Murrue warns Kira about the underground Cyclops system and Kira alerts both ZAFT and Earth Alliance soldiers of the impending danger. Yzak Joule refuses to believe him and attacks Kira with the Duel. Even though Yzak killed Elle and the other refugees, Kira refrains from killing him in return. Instead, he disables the Duel and saves Yzak from the Cyclops blast, keeping with his vow to limit casualties for any and all sides on the battlefield. After the battle, Kira is reunited with the crew of the Archangel. However, he tells them that he isn't siding with ZAFT nor with the Earth Alliance - he just wants to fight to save everyone from the war. Kira's actions have an effect on the rest of the crew later on. Returning to ORB, Kira is reunited with Cagalli, who thought Kira was dead. Soon afterwards however, the Alliance attacks Orb. Desperate after the destruction of the Porta Panama Mass Driver by ZAFT, the Alliance's goal is to capture Morgenröte's facilities and the Kaguya Mass Driver. Kira in the Freedom, later joined by Athrun in its sibling unit, the ZGMF-X09A Justice, participates in the battle, during which they face off against three new-model Alliance Gundams. Unbeknownst to Kira, during the battle a shot fired by the Freedom, missing its intended target, would strike the hillside below as a family of Orb civilians, attempting to reach the docks where the evacuation was underway, were passing through. The entire family would be killed by the attack except for Shinn Asuka, a fourteen-year-old boy who would subsequently evacuate alone and eventually find his way to the PLANTs. The battle ends with the flight of Kira, along with Athrun, and the Archangel ''and ''Kusanagi ''into space, before Morgenröte and the Kaguya mass driver are both destroyed. Though Orb subsequently falls, the Alliance nonetheless fails in its objective, as both ships arrive in space. Athrun leaves the ship, leaving the Justice behind, and returns to the PLANTs to speak with his father - Kira following him part way. Instead, he is arrested, but is soon sprung by the Clyne Faction, who steal the warship ''Eternal and escape, before linking up with the Freedom and fleeing to Mendel. There, the Three Ships Alliance is formed as Kira and Lacus reunite. Lacus, however, breaks down and cries in Kira's arms, finally able to grieve for her father's death due to Patrick's zeal in wiping out the moderates within the PLANT Supreme Council. Soon after, both ZAFT and EA forces discover the Archangel in Mendel Colony and attempt to take care of the battleship - ZAFT deploys the Le Creuset Team, while the Alliance sends the new Archangel-class battleship Dominion, commanded by ex-''Archangel'' XO Natarle Badgiruel and including the same three new Gundams that were in Orb. In the resulting battle, Kira and fellow pilot Mwu La Flaga would chase Rau Le Creuset deep inside Mendel Colony and into the laboratories within. It is there that Rau revealed the truth of Kira's parentage and who he truly - a perfect Coordinator, the Ultimate Coordinator. In a later battle, Kira realizes that a good friend of his, Flay Allster, has been in ZAFT's custody, and attempts to retrieve her. Attacked by the Alliance's mobile suits, the Freedom is damaged and Kira is unable to retrieve the escape pod containing Flay, which is recovered by the Dominion. The Three Ship Alliance would finally launch at the Second Battle of Jachin Due, the last battle of the war. In this battle, Kira, using the Freedom Gundam's METEOR system, engages the Earth Alliance's Peacekeeper force, aiding in shooting down all the nukes before they can get to the PLANTs. In the process, Kira encounters Rau again, this time in his new Providence Gundam. Kira is initially overwhelmed by the Providence's vastly superior firepower, but continues to engage Rau all the same. During the fight, a lifepod from the ravaged Dominion battleship nears the battle, holding Flay. Kira attempts to rescue Flay again, and at first seems to have succeeded, however a DRAGOON shot destroys the lifepod, killing Flay. Kira is overcome with grief, realizing that she could have been saved had he focused more on the battle than trying to get to her. Kira reenters the fray, and though the Freedom suffers crippling damage, Kira deals the Providence a fatal blow with its beam sabers, killing Rau just as the ZAFT superweapon GENESIS fires a final time. The crippled Providence is obliterated, but the Freedom, also caught in the beam, is also severely damaged. Leaving its cockpit, Kira is later found by Athrun and Cagalli. Kira and Lacus settle in Orb, and remain there in seclusion until CE 75. He and Lacus have spent the last two years after the war assisting Reverend Malchio and Kira's adoptive mother Caridad Yamato with his orphanage. In these intervening years, Kira first meets his "brother", Canard Pars. Kira himself is uncomfortable with this development, but Lacus embraces and accepts the new arrival, and soon Kira does as well. The Junius Seven Colony Drop Incident "Break The World", which triggers the Second Bloody Valentine War, forces the group to move in with Murrue Ramius and Andrew Waltfeld at their shared mansion in Orb. Shortly after the incident, as the ZAFT battleship [[LHM-BB01 Minerva|LHM-BB01 Minerva]] is docked in Orb, Kira meets Shinn Asuka, at a memorial that had been erected to commemorate the lives lost in the Alliance invasion four years earlier. Unaware of Kira's identity, Shinn recounts to him the death of his family at the Freedom's hands, leaving Kira somewhat uneasy. Shinn leaves soon afterwards. The mansion is eventually attacked by an unknown force of Coordinators trying to assassinate both him and Lacus. The mansion is destroyed, and Lacus is killed. The successful attempt on Lacus's life forces Kira to once again pilot the Freedom and participate in combat. In the intervening years, the Freedom has been secretly and illegally rebuilt by the Clyne Faction, and Kira takes it up again. Despite his attempt to capture them, the pilots of the mobile suits that had infiltrated Orb self-detonate. Learning of this from Kira, Cagalli quietly launches an investigation into the matter. Shortly thereafter, Kira learns of an upcoming arranged marriage between Cagalli and Yuna Roma Seiran, and kidnaps her from a reception at the Seiran residence, celebrating the signing of a treaty between Orb and the Eurasian Federation. The Archangel ''leaves Orb and takes up secretive residence in the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Cagalli leaves the ship soon afterwards, pointing out that Kira's actions left Orb at the mercy of the pro-Atlantic Federation Seirans. Kira continues to fight in the rebuilt ZGMF-X10A Freedom. His first sortie with the Archangel is in the Dardanelles, trying to stop the OMNI/Orb offensive against the ZAFT battleship Minerva. He destroys the Minervas main "Tannhäuser" cannon, causing severe damage to the ship and multiple casualties. Kira then disarms several mobile suits on both sides of the skirmish, though during the battle he inadvertently kills Rey Za Burrel, one of the ''Minerva's pilots. Athrun angrily confronts him about this when they meet not long afterwards, but is shocked when Kira tells him of Lacus's assassination. Athrun nonetheless maintains that what Kira and the Archangel ''are doing is only making things worse, and that they should return to Orb. Kira intervenes again in the Earth Forces/Orb battle with the ''Minerva in Crete, and in the ensuing battle destroys Athrun's ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam, leaving Athrun severely injured. Subsequently, Kira along with the Archangel would go to Hamburg, to attempt to stop the rampage of the GFAS-X1 Destroy. During the battle, he is attacked by the ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam, but succeeds in dealing a crippling blow to the giant mobile armor, which falls, causing near-fatal injuries to its pilot. Not long afterwards, Chairman Durendal initiates Operation Angel Down, during which, while the Minerva attacked the Archangel, Kira is engaged by Shinn's Impulse. Taking advantage of Kira's tendency towards non-fatal attacks as well as the capabilities of the Impulse and the high performance of the its new Storm Silhouette, Shinn succeeds in defeating the Freedom. Kira is apparently killed, even as the Archangel is destroyed. In fact, Kira survived the Freedom's destruction and is recovered, severely injured, at the same time as the surviving crew of the ''Archangel ''abandons the ship. After receiving initial medical treatment in the Kingdom of Scandinavia, Kira is flown back to Orb and hospitalized there. Though he mostly recovers over time, Kira suffered a permanent spinal injury, meaning that he has lost the use of his legs. As a result, he is uninvolved in the Second Junius War from that point on. After the Second Battle of Daedalus ends the hostilities and the treaty is signed in Orb that formally ends the war, forging an alliance between Orb, the PLANTs, and the Earth Alliance, Kira once again comes face to face with Shinn at the site of Lacus's grave, not far from the memorial where they first met. Shinn, realizing what he has done, apologizes, but Kira holds no ill will, and the two are reconciled in a way as Shinn finally and permanently lays down the grudge that he had carried. After this, Kira would remain in Orb, satisfied with the peace that they, at last, have helped to bring about.